Be Your Own Rowling Contest EntryHalfblood Prince
by completelyincomplete
Summary: It's the summer before Harry returns to Hogwarts to complete his 6th year. However, all is not well within Number 4 Privet Drive....


This is a contest entry for - "Be Your Own Rowling"- HBP style.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter One:

The night air had a sinister feel. As if it wasn't safe for anyone to go beyond the four walls of their home. Dogs huddled beneath bushes and houses; cats pawed at the windows of their homes wanting to get in. However, there was one certain boy who wasn't in his home. He was anywhere but near it. Harry Potter was running away from his Aunt and Uncles house. He didn't consider it a home in the slightest. He had spent the last 15 of his years of his life living under their roof. Even though for the last five he had spent most of the year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he felt out of place in the muggle world. He always had and always will.

Even though he knew that he was the safest during the summer holidays at the Dursley home from the Lord Voldemort, wholly returned to life two years ago, Harry could not stand it any more. It seemed that they still thought that Harry was responsible for the dementor turning up in Little Whinging and attacking their son, Dudley. Harry had been used to being ignored, and punished because of his "abnormality"- being a wizard. However, he could no longer take the snide comments, lack of food (since Dudley was on a diet, the whole household was), and the endless punishments. He had gritted his teeth through it for the better part of his summer, but since no invitations asking him to come to 12 Grimwauld Place yet, he was losing hope. It seemed to him that this summer was turning into be like the last.

So here he was, in the dead of night, walking beneath the lights pulling his trunk and cage with Hedwig within, behind him. Checking over his shoulder, he made sure that the Dursley house was still as silent as a tomb. He knew that Professor Dumbledore would be extremely worried if her knew where Harry was at that moment. However, he didn't care, he had had enough and was now doing something about it.

As he walked all he could hear the crunch of gravel and the snap of the odd stick under his feet. Each sound made him jump, as he knew that Voldemort would not pass up a chance to kill him. He reflected back on all the times that he had come face to face with Voldemort. Four times now he had escaped his clutches. Four times he had come close to dieing. Since Voldemort's rise to power, he hadn't given up a moment in the hopes of killing him. The last time Harry came face to face with Voldemort was in the Ministry of Magic. Finally after a year of denying his existence, the Minister for Magic: Cornelius Fudge finally came to grips with the fact after seeing him in his own ministry and started to do something about it.

However, Voldemort had now been given enough time to set many plans in motion, while inadvertently with the help of the Ministry of Magic itself. Even with the Order of the Phoenix working tirelessly against him. Harry, felt that he shouldn't have been kept at the Dursleys for the second summer in a row with Voldemort risen to power. He had come face to face with him the most in the last 16 years, of all the people in the Order. He ought to be kept within the deliberations. Also, he needed more lessons in Occlumency- guarding his mind from being penetrated by others. Harry did not want to be ever again possessed by Voldemort, not now, or in the future. He now looked forward to the of it, knowing that he would no longer be taught by Snape and have do go through the taunts of others that he was going to Remedial Potions from other students, especially his arch nemesis: Draco Malfoy.

After walking past the twelfth block, Harry began to feel a stitch in his side. Normally, what with Quidditch practices he would have been able to walk or even run for ages without the slightest pain. Sitting on a park bench, Harry twiddled with his wand. Knowing that he couldn't even risk the thought of doing magic, especially after last summer's events, he reluctantly stuffed it into his coat pocket.

Sighing, Harry had no idea how he was going to get to London. He wished that he could call upon the Knight Bus. Although, he couldn't, since he would then end up back at the Dursleys. Shaking his head, he stood back up and grabbed the handles of his cage and trunk. He decided that he would continue walking till two am. By that time, he would be far enough from the Dursleys that they wouldn't care about dragging him back. As he continued walking, his only companion was his thoughts. As hard as he tried not to, he thought back upon Cedric Diggory's violent death. As if it wasn't bad enough that his nightmares were centered upon him, he had to think about him in his waking hours.

As the minutes dragged on, Harry grew less alert, and began to pay little attention to his surroundings or where he was going. Instead of following a marked path he began to go down different streets. St. Albert Road, Pious Drive, Carter Crescent, they became all one in his mind. All he knew was that he had to get away from the Dursleys and somehow to 12 Grimwauld Place. However, he was going circles. He had become lost. It was only when he tripped over a stick and fell face flat into a nearby mud puddle, he realized that he was lost. Looking up at the street sign, he inwardly groaned. He was in the complete opposite direction of London, back to where he had started, almost. He was actually on the same street that Mrs. Figg, the kindly Squib, who watched him from afar to make sure that he was okay, lived.

Harry suddenly had an idea though. He could ask Mrs. Figg to get him out of Privet Drive. He didn't have to worry about getting all the way to London. All he would have to do is ask her for help. With renewed energy, Harry got up, and dragged Hedwig and his trunk to Mrs. Figg's front door. As he tapped the door with the knocker, her prayed fervently that she would hear and open the door. After a few agonizing minutes, Harry finally heard steps within the house come towards him. Relieved, he slumped against the railing.

"Harry!" Mrs. Figg opened the door, surprised as she took in Harry and his things on her front porch. "What on earth are you doing up at this hour? Never mind that, come in come in."

Harry dragged his trunk and cage across the threshold of her home and into the foyer. "Mrs. Figg, I hope you don't mind that I'm at your house well past midnight."

"No, not at all. But the watch should have gotten you by now. How long have you been out?"

"Uh, since eleven pm. I tried running away to the Headquarters, but I got lost."

"No wonder you weren't caught, there was an emergency which called off your watch for five minutes, but never mind that, at least you decided to come here."

At that moment, Harry's stomach growled loudly. Looking down at his feet, he remembered that he hadn't had lunch because he was working in the garden and that he had been sent to bed without supper. "Oh gosh, you must hungry, come into the Kitchen, I'll go whip up a spot of tea and something eat for you my dear." Mrs. Figg in her kind manner bustled out of the foyer and into the kitchen that was adjacent to it and put on a kettle of water.

"Thank you Mrs. Figg, you don't have to though if it's any trouble at all for you." Harry said guiltily.

"Oh, Harry dear, its no trouble at all. Just go sit at the table and make yourself comfortable."

Within a half hour's time, Harry had a steaming mug of tea and a plateful of eggs and toast before him. Thanking, Mrs. Figg profusely, he began to scoff his meal down. Clucking her tongue, she cooked up two more eggs for him. Once he was done his second helping and comfortably full, Mrs. Figg sat opposite him of the Kitchen table.

"Now Harry dear, I want to know why you want out of the Dursleys so badly. You know that you are there for your own protection, and gallivanting around Surrey doesn't help it all that much. You will know when its time for you to be taken to the Headquarters, but for now, it would be safer if you stayed where you are at currently."

As Harry explained his reasons they began to sound more and more feeble in his ears. Finally he stopped in midsentence, knowing that he hadn't been forgotten for yet another summer; no, his friends were not ignoring him; and yes, he still did have contact with the wizarding world. He had spent entirely too much time thinking about the negatives in his situation that summer and had totally failed to see the positives.

"Thanks Mrs. Figg for the meal. Could I spend the rest of the night here before I go back the Dursleys in the morning?" Harry asked, knowing that he was imposing even more on her hospitality even more.

"Oh no problem dear, I was about to suggest that as it were. I didn't want you going the night again. Its all too eerie in my opinion."

As Harry lay on the couch staring up at the roof, he realized a few things. Things would never be as bad as they may seem, that there are always kind people out there looking out for you, and that there is always a safe haven around the corner. He fell soon fell into a contented sleep.


End file.
